


Piece

by yeaka



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Animal Traits, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 13:56:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12389460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: Only a cat can make a binturong happy.





	Piece

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Just a short little useless thing, boop~  
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Yuri on Ice or any of their contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

Even once he’s safely inside the hotel, free of the occasional flash of shallow paparazzi and the far more frequent crowd of pestering fans, Otabek keeps his headphones in—there are still competitors in the halls that he needs an excuse not to talk to. Michele’s been having a catastrophic catfight in Italian with his sister since before Otabek left, but he gives them a particularly wide birth and ignores it. Seung-gil’s still sitting in a chair by the elevator, playing with his phone and paying even less attention to the outside world than Otabek does, but that’s not unusual for snakes with slit eyes and forked tongues. He doesn’t even look up when Otabek’s stuck standing right beside him, waiting for the elevator to reach the lobby. Then Otabek’s disappearing grumpily inside, closing his ears down around his silent headphones to block out the cliché lounge music that assaults them.

It dings when it hits his floor. He steps outside, finds the corridor wondrously empty—save for the stench of stray pheromones—and briefly wonders where he’ll go. His room’s two doors on the right down. But four doors down on the left is a certain golden cat, holed up with a silver wolf and a black poodle that could probably use rescuing and the company of a better friend...

But Otabek isn’t really that yet. In the end, he heads to his own door, internally cursing himself the whole time. It isn’t that he’s a _coward_ exactly, but that he’s anxious and bitter and just not _good at the world_. And their friendship’s still new. Tentative. And Yuri’s a wild firecracker that runs hot and cold, and Otabek doesn’t want to smother him.

Otabek swipes the cardkey past his lock and slips into his own room, wanting nothing more than to just flop down in bed. Today’s leg of competition took a lot out of him anyway. Maybe he doesn’t have the energy for a wildcat.

Then he’s walking into the open living space, where a single couch sits facing a moderately sized flat-screen TV. Before he’s even seen the new contents of that space, he smells it: and then Yuri glances over at him, sprawled out on the cushions like he owns the whole place and more.

Down to a tiger tee and jean shorts, Yuri huffs, “Where’ve you been?”

“Shopping,” Otabek grunts, before countering, “What are you doing here?”

“Ugh,” Yuri groans, head lolling back against the couch. “I’m roomed with Victor and Yuri, and they’re _all over each other_. Like, think of how gross they are at the kiss and cry, and then times it by ten, even though I’m _right there_! And then I tried to go outside to get some air, but JJ keeps sniffing around there, and I’d hate that guy even if he weren’t a disgusting _dog_ —” He says the word like it’s a curse, then abruptly cuts off. Golden ears perking up in tall isosceles triangles, Yuri asks, “Wait... do you have treats?”

Before Otabek can even answer, Yuri’s scrambling off the couch. He’s over to Otabek in a second, tail flicking out behind him as he paws at Otabek’s leather jacket—the pocket of which bulges with little fish-shaped wafers that the sales associate promised were great for animal-cats and human-cats alike. Evidently, she was right. Yuri yanks it right out, grinning up at Otabek from beneath his one-sided blond fringe, and he gloats like there’s no other possibility: “You bought me treats?”

Otabek answers lamely, “Congrats on making all your jumps.”

Yuri smirks like he deserves it. But it’s that strange sort of _kind_ smirk that only Otabek gets, as opposed to the petty, snappish ones everyone else seems to earn. It makes Otabek feel warm in a way nothing else does, not even winning medals—Yuri’s friendship is swiftly becoming everything.

With the bag in one hand, Yuri uses the other to wrap around Otabek’s, and he tugs Otabek forward as he rips the bag open with his teeth. His slight fangs make short work of it, and soon he’s dumping several at once into his mouth—Victor will probably kill Otabek when he finds out. Or Yakov, or Mila, or whoever’s training Yuri now. But it’s worth it for the happy purring noise Yuri makes. Yuri takes Otabek around to the couch, pushes him onto it, and settles right beside him. Otabek’s tail tangles with Yuri’s behind them, bigger and bushier and darker. When Otabek first told Yuri what he was—a binturong, or, as some call it, a bear _cat_ —Yuri was delighted. He declared them unofficial cousins. They’re not really. It’s just a name. But he’s still pleased that Yuri curls up against him like they’re from the same litter. 

Yuri even reaches for Otabek’s hand and brings it to his head, half demanding and half asking, “Scratch me behind my ear?”

So Otabek does, because it’s not much to ask, and it makes Yuri purr louder than ever. He’s louder than the dull real estate show playing on the TV—probably the only thing Yuri could find on the crappy hotel cable package. Otabek pets him right through it, until the treat bag is half empty and Yuri’s slumped against his shoulder. Yuri nuzzles half consciously into his warmth, and Otabek strokes through his hair. 

For that—the simple pleasure of Yuri’s company—Otabek finally smiles.


End file.
